Plant breeders RAGT are advising growers to keep faith with winter wheat, despite the miserable start to drilling. Many key winter wheat varieties are still safe to sow well into January or February and with the price of wheat increasing, it still makes good economic sense to hang onto seed stocks already purchased or saved and wait until conditions improve, says Simon Howell of RAGT.
“Farmers are understandably fed up with hearing more and more theories about the weather this year – the driest spring, the wettest summer for 100 years and now one of the wettest autumns. Growers in some parts of the country are still struggling with wheat drilling and many are wondering what to do under these unusual and depressing circumstances. Should they put the drill away and move to springs crops or should they muddle crops in despite soil conditions? Or should they wait for the much awaited drier and cooler weather conditions predicted for November and then drill wheat?” asks Simon.
“One aspect that we as breeders can help with is to reassure growers that many of the widely grown and high performing wheat varieties can successfully be sown much later than many think. For example the Group 4 variety Relay, which last year was in the top 4 wheat varieties for yield, can be drilled up to the end of January and the Groups 3 wheats Torch, Tuxedo and Warrior are safe to drill up to the end of February. In fact all our wheats, with the exception of the Group 1 Hereward, are suitable for drilling up to the end of January,” he says.
Relay is well known for its autumn vigour, rapid speed of development and great tillering capacity and it is varieties with these characteristics that tend to be able to withstand the potential problem of later drilling. Relay has always been one of the highest yielding second wheats, so has been shown to suit this later slot. This position is concurred by growers who have sowed Relay after sugar beet and it has performed well, says Simon Howell.
On a positive note, later drilling could help with grass-weed control since there may still be an opportunity for use of glyphosate on the late-emerging black-grass and later emerging grass-weeds tend to be less competitive. Relay and Torch are both tolerant to chlorotoluron-containing herbicides which add in another post-em herbicide option.
Simon warns that later drilled crops will still need care and attention with regard to weed and disease control. “Later drilled crops need all the help they can get to uphold their yield potential. It is not a good idea to cut back on inputs at this stage. In particular a comprehensive fungicide programme will always pay dividends and will add to yield.”
He also warns that spring seed stocks are likely to be short and are already selling out quickly. “It is best to keep to the planned rotation and wait to drill your wheat when conditions improve.”
